Paulo Fonseca, the head coach of French soccer team Olympique Lyonnais, has been given a nine-month suspension after confronting a referee – a sanction the club described as “severe” and “unprecedented.

Lyon coach Paulo Fonseca has been banned from the touchline at games for nine months for aggressively confronting the referee at a French league game.

The manager's outburst at the end of Lyon's win over Brest resulted in an unprecedented ban that will keep him from the touchline through the end of November.